DNA and Me - 10 years later
Ten years ago I posted an article called, "DNA and Me". You can read about it here. In the article, I chronicled the start of my journey into Genetic Genealogy.
I was a lot hopeful and a little naive when I first started testing DNA. I thought DNA would automatically break down all my brick walls and, as a bonus, prove the Native American stories in our family. Ten years later, I still have brick walls, and I doubt there is any truth to the "Indian Grandma" stories.😒
So after ten years, has DNA been worth the time, effort, and money???
The answer to that is YES!!!😎😍
DNA has Solved Mysteries
DNA has filled in my tree by finding missing relatives, and DNA has solved several mysteries. Read a few stories about finding family with DNA:
In addition to the posts in the above links, DNA has filled in my family tree. One example is that DNA has proven my 3rd great-grandfather, John Sadler, was the brother of William Sadler. Their probable parents are John William and Elizabeth Sadler. Both John and William were early settlers in Texas; John lived in Limestone County and William lived in Frio County. While there is no document or paper trail to prove their relationship, DNA matches between descendants of both men does prove their relationship.
FamilySearch has an excellent blog post about Overcoming Brick Walls in Your Family Tree with DNA. Click here to read
DNA Confirms Family Tree Research
DNA has substantiated years of genealogical research. For the last forty-plus years I have been researching my family tree. Through DNA I know that most of my researched and documented family lines are indeed my biological lines. My Quaker lines, with good sources and documentation, are definitely my biological lines - no surprises there. I could probably do without some of the outlaw lines but according to the DNA (and the research) they are also part of my family tree. My southern family lines are still a little sketchy -- Not very many records and lots of DNA matches with no trees. My German lines have a good base both in records and DNA. Just don't have a lot of German DNA matches from Germany.
DNA has definitely added family to my tree and it has also taken away (in a biological sense). With the help of DNA, a cousin knows that the rumors he heard about being adopted from within the family are true. So, even though he was adopted into the family, he is also biologically related to the family. Another cousin who took a DNA test out of curiosity, found out he is not biologically related to the family. Still very much a part of the family, just has different DNA than the rest of us.
I like a quote from Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist: "DNA can tell us how we are biologically related to each other. DNA doesn't - and can't - tell us how families are formed."
DNA Ethnicity
While DNA has cleared up some mysteries, DNA has also created some mysteries in my family tree. According to my ethnicity (and that of my family), I have about 6% of my DNA from Denmark/Sweden. If I look at a comparison chart of my maternal Baldwin aunts and uncle, I see a very clear pattern of Scandinavian ethnicity. My problem with this is I have not found any hint of Denmark/Sweden ethnicity in my genealogical research. Which ancestor(s) did it come from??
Below is a comparison chart of five Baldwin siblings showing their ethnicities. Highlighted in yellow is their Denmark/Sweden ethnicity ranging from 12% to 17%. Again, which ancestor(s) did it come from??
Below are links to previous DNA ethnicity posts:
